“Monk” Star Tony Shalhoub on the Series Finale

For eight seasons, Tony Shalhoub has played Adrian Monk, a San Francisco-based detective whose extreme obsessive-compulsive tendencies have annoyed his co-workers but helped him crack difficult cases. On Dec. 4 on USA, the 56-year-old actor will slip into Mr. Monk’s tweed suit one last time to solve his final, and most important, case: discovering who killed his beloved wife Trudy (guest star Melora Hardin) 12 years ago. The Journal spoke to Mr. Shalhoub about what he’ll miss about the quirky role — which has garnered him three Emmy Awards and paved the way for other untraditional lead roles on cable — and what’s next for his career.

The Wall Street Journal: Finding Trudy’s killer has been the underlying arc to “Monk.” Are you satisfied by the two-part resolution?

Even though these last two episodes are a little darker than what we normally do, I think it’s a good send off. At the beginning of the season, the writers asked me if I wanted to know how everything [ended] and I said, if it was okay with them, I’d rather wait. Because the less time I had with the real answers in my head, the better it would be for my performance the first half of the season.

Monk gets to really lose it in one scene, which we haven’t really seen before.

When I first read the scripts, the performing of it seemed like a daunting task, but once once I got into the rhythm of the scene, it played itself. By which I mean, the cumulative effect of all of the character work I had done leading up to this point — building up all of Monk’s inner pain and frustration and anger — burst from me like a dam.

What was the very last scene you shot?

The last scene with the whole company and crew was the scene in the hospital hallway where Monk gets hung up on the idea of vomiting. It was such a great way to end it, because it was the four of us [Mr. Shalhoub plus costars Traylor Howard, Ted Levine, and Jason Gray-Stanford] together, playing out a scene that we knew from the table read was a solid scene. It was a great way to go out.

USA Network

The final scene shot, with, from left to right, Jason Gray-Stanford, Ted Levine, Mr. Shalhoub and Traylor Howard.

How difficult is it to let go of the character?

There’s a sweetness to the whole thing. I’m going to miss the character, of course, because it became a part of me and I became a part of it. On the other hand, you don’t want to do one thing for too long a period. Creatively, I think it’s important to rediscover and be in that state of mind where you don’t know everything about a person. As an actor, you want to have new challenges and take larger risks where the possibility of failure is real again.

“Monk” has brought on a slew of A-list actors as guest stars. Who’s been the most memorable for you?

I think one of the greatest for me was getting Gena Rowlands on the show and having the opportunity to work with her, because she’s been an idol of mine ever since I was a young acting student and I never thought it was likely that she would do a part on the show. In that regard, that was the most satisfying. And discovering that she was a dream to work with.

How does leaving “Monk” compare to leaving “Wings,” which you co-starred on for six seasons?

I was on “Wings” [for fewer seasons than "Monk"], but did close to the same number of episodes, because on sitcoms, you can do one episode a week. I did probably 130 odd episodes of “Wings,” whereas over eight years of “Monk” I did 124, but who’s counting? It’s a kind of a strang feeling, but in both situations, it felt right somehow, in that it was time to move on and put these characters to rest. in the case of “Wings” and “Monk,” the shows were still going strong and could have continued. NBC never cancelled “Wings;” the lead actors decided they wanted to explore other opportunies. On “Monk,” going into season seven, we kind of knew that seven and eight would be the last two.

What did you do on your first day off?

I went into the editing room, which is typically what I’d do after each episode. I actually only finished post-production about a week and half ago. Normally, our seasons would always have a four-month winter hiatus around this time of year, so in that sense, it sort of feels the same, but I also have in the back of my mind that I’m not going back into production in March. I’ve got something lined up for Feb or March though, so I’ll be keeping busy.

What’s the project?

I’m going to be in a play on Broadway with my wife [Brooke Adams]. We’re doing a revival of the ensemble comedy “Lend Me a Tenor,” which is set in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1930s. Stanley Tucci is directing. We’ve worked together on stage before and he did a great guest spot on “Monk.” I like going back to work with people that I have a great respect for and with whom I’ve been friends with for a long time.